


glass and fire

by pastel_gremlin



Category: The School for Good and Evil - Soman Chainani
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26677816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastel_gremlin/pseuds/pastel_gremlin
Summary: basically just hestadil angst, written sort of aesthically/poetically. tw: blood mentions
Relationships: Anadil/Hester (The School for Good and Evil)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	glass and fire

**Author's Note:**

> lowercase intended for the aesthetic
> 
> i tried ig??? i think i messed up the tense a few times pls dont hate me

nobody would stick around for her, nobody would wait for her. there's broken glass in the sink, she doesn't remember how it got there. she cuts her palm while trying to clean it up, but that doesnt matter, because all she can think of is anadil's eyes, as red as the blood slipping through hester's fingers. 

anadil is glass.

hester's hands shake, of course they shake, she cant hold anything glass anymore.  
plastic water bottles. plastic bowls. plastic plates. plastic, plastic, plastic, just like hester.  
hester is the disgusting man-made plastic that fills the oceans and chokes the dolphins.  
at least that's what she tells herself.

hester shivers and eyes the empty hearth. she almost regretted throwing away every match in the house.

almost.

her mind drifts back to anadil. cold, indifferent, gorgeous, sarcastic, caring anadil. 

she's loved her for a long time. too long. she expected it to go away, but it didn't. why would it? 

anadil's perfect- too perfect.

she's trustworthy- too trustworthy.

she's loyal- too loyal. 

hester is a ticking time bomb; someday she'll go off and hurt anadil.

anadil deserves better.

she has to know. if she knows, she'll leave. and hester needs her to leave. because she will eventually- and better sooner than later. better for her to leave before hester hurts her.

she confesses over coffee a day later. metaphorical coffee, of course. hester doesn't drink coffee anymore. only alcohol and energy drinks.  
she expects rejection. she doesn't want it, but she expects it.

hester's hands shake, but anadil holds them in her own. 

her whispered confession is answered only with a kiss, soft and gentle. anadil tastes like mint and black coffee.

hester decides immediately that this is her favorite flavor. 

anadil whispers promises and reassurances against hester's lips, but everything inside hester screams run.

anadil is glass, and hester's hands shake too much.

hester will hurt her eventually, she knows it. she doesn't want to, but she knows it'll happen. it always did.

but anadil pulls hester in for another kiss, and coffee has never tasted as good as when hester tastes it on the albino girl's tongue. 

anadil traces her fingertips across the burn scars on hester's neck, gently and carefully, as though she fears hester could break at any moment.

as though hester was glass. 

hester's breath hitched as she felt familiar ghost flames caressing her neck, her arms, her chest. images flashed through her mind- blackening wallpaper, flames engulfing her clothing, devouring her mother's body, melting her own skin as she screamed.

hester pulled away, her lips parting from anadil's, her hands shaking more than ever.

the pain never went away. even after two years, it all still hurt.

hester is glass, and glass can't be made without fire.

anadil catches hester's face in her hands, her fingers cold against hester's skin. she murmers an apology, clearly thinking she's done something wrong.

hester shakes her head, unable to meet anadil's eyes, her mind tearing itself apart. 

_do i stay and risk hurting her? or do i leave and lose her?_

anadil is the hopeful hint of spring after a particularly cold winter. a blood red flower poking through the snow.

anadil is the relief. the hope. the water that quenches the flames.

because hester never left that burning house.

physically, she did. but her mind has been trapped in a fiery prison for two years.

and anadil is the savior.

anadil stands up to leave, whispering one last apology as she turns away. 

hester stands up suddenly, her hands gripping the table.

steady hands.

for the first time in two years, her hands aren't shaking.

hester inhales a ragged breath, and calls out a single word, her voice strained with desperation.

_"wait."_


End file.
